The Jupiler League thread !!!!

:lol: LOL...............yes that's what I'm saying. Had E.Mpenza scoring both goals and quoting the minutes for the one player. You know like E.Mpenza (30 & 52) - that's an example btw. :lol:



FD
 
gerd said:
The Belgian championship usually is a two horse race between Anderlecht and Brugge. Occasionally a third club can win it, recently only Racing Genk.
Click to expand...
And what are the level of Royal Charleroi and Excelsior Mouscron?.
 
I see this thread has reached another miletsone: a second page...look how popular Belgian football is...i don't understand why Ronaldinho, Zidane, Nedved and Adriano don't play for teams like Sint-Truiden, Zulte-Waregem or the mighty FC Brussels...really i don't...

Anyway, back to business.

Mouscron is relegation fodder this year Wolmisted.
Charleroi were supposed to be relegation fodder last year, but in the end they were 5th and with a litle luck (well , with much luck) could have won a CL ticket. IMHO they have one of the brigthest young coaches: Jackie Mathijsen (a former GK).
 
OK, after three matches only Anderlecht and Standard have the maximum nine points.
Although in Anderlechts case that was largely due to some (very) bad refereeing. Anderlecht got awoarded a doubtfull penalty, their opponents (GBA) were refused an undisputable one...
Both Belgian CL cadidates Brugge and Anderlecht seem rather shaky. Although Slavia Prague (Anderlecht) and Valerengen (Brugge) are hardly contenders to win the CL, i'm afraid both Belgian clubs will go out...but on the other hand...that's typical Belgian: very pessimistic.
What about Brussels????
Sunday was another milestone in their history: their first match on television !!!!! (too fans of teams like Chelsea, Man Utd and Milan this must sound very daft). And of course they lost it: 1-0 in Lokeren. Lokeren scored after barely three minutes: a stupid goal...in the first half Brussels were the better team. But in the second half it looked as if Lokeren could double his advantage...they forgot to do that and in the end their goalkeeper was the match winner wit a splendid save...
The Brussels bench is weak, but they have bought to new players: Nicoise from Amiens and Kargbo from Sierra Leone. They hope to buy Espartero (Metz) or Stoica (i hope not). 4 points out of 9 isn't that bad...it will be another season of mediocrity in a mediocre league...
 
Wilhelmsson is playing (he should always play), Bassegio in on the bench...I agree with that, he's a big talented but an underachiever...Zetterberg is playing CMF but IMHO he is too old and too slow...Anderlecht bought Romanian playmaker Marius Mitu from Lierse, i don't get why he doesn't play...IMHO he's better than both Bassegio and Zetterberg...
 
Anytime I've saw Baseggio (not too much tbh) he's looked very good, great playmaker and passes are brilliant. Wouldn't have minded Celtic bid for him, did hear that he had a bit of a reputation though and doesn't he like smoke loads?

Wilhelmsson is a brilliant player too. Not sure if anyone saw Ronaldinho try a little showboat move (jeez, what one you all say) at the weekend, saw Wilhelmsson do a class one similar and crossed it for Dindane to score.

FD
 
I don't think Bassegio would be even remotely good enough to play in the serie A...he's one of these immensely talented players who for some reason never make it...in his case: he counts too much on his flair and not enough on brains and hard work...
 
Hallelujah...two Belgian teams in the CL...
Anderlecht won 0-2 in Prague agianst Slavia Prague. Anderlecht coach Vercauteren made some weird choices: Zitka in goal (and not Proto), the 22 year old De Man as central midfielder (never started a match before) and not Zetterberg, Bassegio and Mitu. All in all a fairly easy win for Anderlecht. A beautifull Wilhelmsson pass provided the first goal for Serkan. The second was a Serkan pasds for Mbo Mpenza. Thus far Mbo Mpenza scored in every single official match he played this season. I'm delighted for him because i think he's a very good player (albeit not a natural goal scorer). And he's better than his brother Emile.
Brugge had a very tough Norwegian to play: Valerenga. Brugge had lost the first match in Norway and i did not think the y would stand a chance. Valerenga played very defensive, the match looked like a handball match: 11 Valerenga players round the box and Brugge patiently probing till they found a hole in the Norwegian defense. Finally in 72th minute Brugge scored the 1-0 (Balaban, Villa fans will laugh but he's Brugge's star player). With that result there was extra time needed. Valerenga were reduced to 10 players and they played very, very defensive...Brugge did not score and fot the third time Brugge had to force his way to the CL with penalties. For the thrid time they won, and fot the second time goal keeper Butina was the hero (stopped 2 penalties, albeit one with big luck).
This is good for Belgian football, but to be honest i doubt if neutrla football fans will be thrilled by this. Last year Anderlecht lost every single match... Anderlecht is definitely the team with more flair players (Kompany, Wilhelmsson, Serat Akin and Mpenza) but they are weak in central midfield and lack fighting spirit. Brugge have fighting spirit in abundance but they lack flair players...
Well with the money they both clubs will win they wil transfer each one or two players before end of august...but i don't think big teams like Chelsea, Milan and barca will be afraid of them...
 
It was an accident that Celtic didn't make it my friend...
And if you see the groups in which both Belgium teams have to play, i'm not so sure if they will enjoy their CL. In a group with Chelsea, Liverpool and Betis or Rapid Wien (that should be possible), Juventus and Bayern both Belgian clubs have already said that the 3d place is the penultimate ain for them...
Well i hope they can at least play some good matches against those teams...even if in the end they lose...
 
I remember about 4 years ago Anderlecht had a very strong run in the CL. They got past the 2nd group stage(Old CL system) and got knocked out to someone like Barca.
 
Anderlecht were in group then with Lazio and Leeds (can't remember the fourth team, but maybve it could have been Real Madrid, not quite sure...).
Anyway, about the Jupiler League.
After 4 matches only one team has won 4 matches: Standard.
Saturday the won 2-3 against unfancied La Louvière. They were rescued by their CF, Tchité from the DR of Congo (scored a hattrick). Standard were soon up with two goals and seemed save. Trhey played a dreadfull second half La Louvière scored a first and the a second after a dreadfull (and untypically) mistake by Onyewu. But in injury time, Tchité scored his third goal...
Anderlecht lost its maximum after the first "clash" of this season: against Genk.
Anderlecht were 0-2 up after two goals of Mbo Mpenza, but after a second yellow card for Vandenborre Genk came back in 2 minutes (two serious mistakes from Proto who plauyed his first match for Anderlecht). Then once again Anderlecht took the lead after an Mbo Mpenza goals (his 6th in four matches). But Genk equalised once again after a mistake from Proto (what a dreadfull match he played). With 3-3 Anderlecht lost his first points and things don't look very good for them: they are very, very vulnerabl and corners...one can only imagine what this is gonna be against players like Drogba and Terry in Cl...
Brugge lost another point against Lierse and should have lost their match.
And what about my team Brussels???? Wel they had to play Chareleroi , the only team who had kept their goal empty sofar. Also the team with the best GK in the Jupiler League: Frenck GK Bertrand Lacquait (he should for a big club, he really is an ace GK). Brussels succeeded in scoring two goals but Charleroi scored two aswell: a 2-2 draw...
After 4 matches (and three rather tough teams) Brussles have 5 points, which is rather good...
 
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FD, I don't think Big Joos is in the squad...he hasn't been for a couple of years. With Van Buyten, Simons, Kompany and even Cloement (that one i don't like at all), Antheunis (our national coach) has quite a few alternatives as CB.
To be honest (and i'm a fan of Joos) since he has returned, he has not been playing very well...and he has been the first to admit that (which is one of the reasons i quite like him).
The match against Bosnia-Herzegowina is another all or nothing match.
If our national team wants to have a chance of going to the WC, they have to win all their remaining matches (4: in Bosnia, home against san Marino, in Lithuania and home agianst Spain).
The Red devils (that's what we call our national team, rather ridiculous if you ask me) have not been very good during these qualifications matches, but to be fair, they had lots of injured players for particularly every match. No it seems that Emile Mpenza is injured...
 
Ah rite, just wondering. The big man has always been very honest. His first couple of seasons he was brilliant for us, but then injuries and loss of form caught up with him. Guess he might be a write-off now for Belgium, unless things turn around in Belgium footy for him now.

FD
 
For hunders of fans of Belgian football, these werte the results of last weekend matches in the Jupiler league:

Racing Genk -Anderlecht 3-3
Roesealre - Lokeren 4-0
La Louvière - Standard 2-3
Lierse - Club Brugge 1-1
Moeskroen - Westerlo 1-0
GBA - AA Gent 2-1
Brussels - Chareleroi 2-2
Cercle Brugge vs Zulte-Waregem 2-4
Sint-Truiden - Beveren 1-0

The ranking after 4 matches:

1 Standard 12
2 Anderlecht 10
3 Club Brugge 8
4 Charleroi 8
5 Zulte-Waregem 7
6 Westerlo 7
7 Lokeren 7
8 Roesealare 6
9 Sint-Truiden 6
10 Brussels 5
11 Genk 4
12 AA Gent 4
13 Lierse 4
14 Beveren 3
15 GBA 3
16 Moeskroen 3
17 La Louvière 2
18 Cercle Brugge 0
 
Well, Belgium lost 1-0 in Bosnia-Herzegovina and blew their last chance for the WC in Germany...so for the first time since 1978 no Belgium team in the WC...people all around the world will be gutted because of the absence of outr national team...after all our football is the most attractive in the world...
Serious...i think it's better to build a newe team with a good coach who will make logical choices ( for example: he never ever played our most intelligent player: Bernd Thys).
In this thread, now we can concentrate on the Jupiler League and how Anderlecht and Brugge do in the CL and Genk and GBA in the UEFA Cup.

Anderlecht and Brugge have bought a new forward at the end of the summer transfer window. Anderlecht bought Gregory Pujol from Nantes, i'm not quite sure if he will turn out to be a good player for Anderlecht.
Brugge took Javier Portillo on loan from Real Madrid...he's supposed to be a big talent and i can't understand what he's doing in Belgium...he seems motivated though...Of course this a good thing for Belgian football...whether it will be a good thing for Javier Portillo remains to be seen...
Leaders Standard lost an important player: Serb strongholder Ivica Dragutinovic left the club for Sevilla and Bangoura went to Stoke City (which illustrates the difference between the English Championshi and the Jupiler League i suppose).
Meanwhile, the day after tomorrow our national team plays San Marino...i can't wait...
 
Because i don't want any bickering in this thread i wil take your reaction seriour (but we both know better, don't we).
First of all if you would read all my posting you would now that i am very well aware of the fact that the Jupiler League is crap...i even mentioned Balaban as a proof. So now that, that is settled we can go further.
The fact that it's a crap league is due to money...football nowadys is all about money...if you consider that a club like Anderlecht is not among the 150 European clubs with the biggest budget and Club Brugge not among the 2OO, than the fact that they both reach the CL fairly regularly can be seen as a huge success. Personally i think that Belgium clubs are overachievers in Euro-cups (allways considering their budgets) as opposed to the underachieving English clubs (always keep the bugets in mind). And the fact that Anderlecht will be hammered by clubs like Liverpool and Chelsea does not change anything...with the same budget as Man Utd, Arsenal or Chelsea Belgian clubs would win the CL fairly regular...England has had two CL-winners in 6 years...that is underachieving...but this thread is not about English football...it's about Belgian.
Now my good friend let's agree on one thing: i will gladly persue this discussion if you will be able to turn it into a real discussion...the style of your previous posting is far from what i preceive as a discussion...if you continue like that...i will not bother anymore...
 
I really doubt a good team is just built around money...I think that if football is more advertised and promoted in Belgium, you could see another generation of great stars.....Its a shame that a guy like Wilmots was nearing the end of his career when guys like Kompany stepped into the frame
 
Yep, old Belgium have blown it, guess we'll be seeing how our countries can perform and possibly get to the next EC.

As you mentioned I was suprised to see Portillo move to Belgium, however tbh I actually don't think he's as good as he was portrayed to be when he first broke into the Real team.


FD
 
Well FD, the fact that he comes to play in Belgium could be a token that Portillo is not the star he was meant to be...otherwise he would have had better offers...but still one never knows...
I'm not sure if our national will be able to qualify for the EC, IMHO this is harder than WC Qualifications...
I agree with the fact that a good team is solely build round money, but it helps quite a lot...But the fact that Belgium football is in dire straits has to do with the Belgium FA...In 1986 Belgium played the semi-finals of a WC. This should have given an enormous boost to football...it's rather harsh that the generations of football players who started playing because of that success is the first in 28 years not to qualify for the World Cup...But what happens in Belgium??? All our teams, even youth teams play a very defensive style of play (based on that most Belgian of all tactics: the bloody off-side trap). Young football players are not judged on skill but on "tactical awareness"...I have seen matches between teams of 6 year old boys where both teams played consistently the off-side trap...must be great fun for those kids...
Furthermore it's ironic that Belgium teams suffer most of the Bosman rule (all our good teenage players play for Dutch clubs) because it was the Belgian FA who neglected to protect Jean Marc Bosman...justice done but what a pity for the players and the fans...
 
I think with Portillo's case.....I dont think he was ever THAT good, in his debut season he was surrounded and helped by a hungry Real team which consisted of Makelele, Zidane, Beckham, Ronaldo and Figo of yesteryear and this helped to elevate and illuminate everything he did but when he was loaned to a Fiorentina revived from the lower divisions in 2004, he was never ever going to get support and service like he did at the bernebeu, he was nothing more than a decent striker, nothing more
 
A personal note on the Bosnia-Belgium match saturday.
To my astonishment i saw an FC Brussels flag in the middle of the Bosnian crowd...imagine my reaction...i was genuinely proud.
FC Brussels: Big in Bosnia !!!!!
 
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